China's home-developed deep-sea biological gene sequencer completes sea trial

BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China's home-developed deep-sea biological gene sequencer has successfully completed its sea trial, representing a great boon for the country's deep-sea research, its developer has announced.

The equipment was jointly developed by researchers from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the CAS Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering.

It underwent testing during the expedition mission of China's scientific research ship Tansuo-2 in the South China Sea from June 3 to June 9, the CAS publicity office told Xinhua on Wednesday.

During the sea expedition, the biological gene sequencer, on board the deep-sea in-situ laboratory, was deployed twice, reaching a maximum depth of 1,380 meters, according to the CAS.

During the trial, the sequencer accomplished continuous sequencing for eight hours in the first deployment, and in the second deployment it completed the entire gene sequencing process, working nonstop for 30 hours with high-quality identification of DNA samples, the CAS said.

Over the past five years, the research team has made significant breakthroughs in areas such as sequencing methods, big data processing, underwater encapsulation and self-correcting software, which enable the team to achieve a fully automated, unmanned and continuous gene sequencing process, it said.